Preps

No Kneed for applause: Lions happy Baumann's back and healthy for baseball season

Mountain View's ace pitcher/shortstop among several returning players looking to defend state title

By Mike Brohard

Sports Editor

Posted:
03/06/2014 06:21:45 PM MST

After tearing his MCL in the fall playing quarterback, Mountain View junior Adam Baumann has recovered in time to play shortstop and pitch this spring for the defending state-champion Lions. (Steve Stoner / Loveland Reporter-Herald)

Naturally, the football coach was worried.

Bart Mayes had just watched his starting quarterback go down on the field, and it was clear it was a knee injury. How serious was the question.

Adam Baumann didn't really care. All he wanted to do was go back in the game and continue to help his team because one series is not enough against a crosstown rival. The trainers, however, told him it was best if he sat the remainder of the last game out to avoid further complications.

Nobody wanted that.

"I was mad," Baumann said. "I wanted to know if I could get back in, if they could tape it up for something. Coach (Nick) Frei kind of put it in perspective for me. If I go back in, I can't play as well as I could and it would increase the risk of tearing an ACL or something worse.

"If I did that, I would miss baseball."

In the stands, his friends were worried, many of them baseball teammates. Dakota Shea-Shelley saw tears, and he knew that wasn't a good sign. And at home, Mountain View baseball coach Brian Smela was finding out the news via Twitter feeds. He called Baumann's sister, and he finally reached the trainer.

The news — an MCL tear — wasn't good, but it also wasn't bad. A few months of rehab as opposed to a year.

Because that right knee, the one that planted on passes and to make cuts as a dual-threat quarterback, was the same knee that gave the Lions' starting shortstop the ability to sweep laterally to make plays. And help provide the ace pitcher with the drive to the plate. And the No. 3 hitter his base to slash hits and scoot around the bases.

Advertisement

One knee, and so much riding on it.

The beauty of Baumann is he is aware of it, he'd just never speak a word to the truth. In his mind, he's just one of the guys who make things work on any field of play, but as the baseball team heads into the season with a 2013 4A state champions banner in left field, his teammates will tell you just how vital the junior is to their success.

Mountain View's Hunter Porterfield is one of three top pitchers the Lions return from last year's 4A state championship team. (Steve Stoner / Loveland Reporter-Herald)

"He's real humble," said Shea-Shelley, the team's starting catcher. "He doesn't take anything for granted. He doesn't think he's the best guy on the team, and he treats everybody equally, even the younger guys on the team.

"He's younger than me, and I look up to him. He's a true role model."

Baumann can hit, he can run and he can make the difficult look routine, and Smela definitely appreciates it. He was the RH player of the year after all, going 7-1 on the hill while hitting .407 with 35 runs scored, 20 RBI and 12 doubles.

What he loves is Baumann can handle the spotlight with a down-to-earth attitude, a smile on his face and a killer attitude lurking underneath.

"I like his humility, as far as how he handles his notoriety," Smela said. "He's the best athlete in the school probably and you'd never know it just by the way he carries himself. He's a great team guy, he's a good leader and it's never in a me-first kind of way. We have to tell him it's OK to be a little selfish sometimes. It's just not in his nature."

Baumann says his knee is just fine, but it will be protected with a knee brace — as long as he remembers to bring it to practice. He has no question it will hold up to what he has to do, as he's been cleared for activity since the beginning of January. In his mind, he didn't really miss a thing.

Wouldn't miss a thing.

"The physical therapy, some stuff was really tough," he said. "I just had to push through because I had to be back for this. I knew I couldn't B.S. it or not get the work in. Then I knew I wouldn't be a part of something very special, so that definitely played a part. And I definitely didn't want to let these guys down."

He was sort of like the Lions last year, down for a spell but willing to get back up. They were a .500 team at the mid-point, then were celebrating after winning the third state title in program history. Baumann said it was an unreal team chemistry that pulled them together, which is why when you ask him his role on the team, he'll tell you he's just one of the brothers in a big, happy family.

Not the biggest, the strongest or the best. Just one of them who has to do his chores like the rest.

It's the same approach Baumann said will be required this year.

"Last year we were all really close, and a lot of us are back, so we continued that family-like atmosphere," he said. "The new guys coming up fit in well. We're just one pretty tight group, and on our first days out, we're looking pretty good. We don't like to talk about what is to come, just day by day. Once you start thinking ahead, bad things can happen."

It's not like he's on his own, either. The Lions have their top three pitchers back from last year with Hunter Porterfield and Jerrod Klug, both of whom had big starts in the title run. Ozzie Pearcy can add depth to the bullpen, and the offense will more than help the cause, as Shea-Shelley, Max Moree, Aaron Morrison and Justin Clinton help round out a productive lineup.

New faces TJ Felton, Cody Howell, Tommy Guffey and Holden Bernhardt will be asked to provide assistance as the team moves toward what it hopes will be another deep run of equal parts pressure and calm.

"It is kind of both," Shea-Shelley said. "We definitely have a target on our back for winning it last year, but we're not going in thinking we're going to roll anybody over. But we will be confident because we have been there."

Baumann wants to get back as much as the next guy in the dugout. Not just to another title game, but to his team, where he's feels most at home as one of the guys.

One of them. Just not 'The One.'

"He's the opposite of a prima-donna," Smela said. "He's just a blue-collar kid who is really talented and it elevates everybody around him."